HIST362 Study Guide

Unit 4: Revolution in Haiti, Mexico, Latin America, and the Philippines

4a. Identify the immediate and long-term causes of revolution in Latin America

  • What were the root causes of the Latin American independence movements in the 1800s and 1900s?
  • How would you compare these causes with the American and French revolutions, including colonialism, the lives of the peasants, economic factors, and the social structure?
  • How did developments in Europe and Latin America affect the Mexican Revolution?

France enforced a mercantile policy in Saint Domingue (today's Haiti), which forced local businesses to trade exclusively with France, which reaped most of the profits from the country's cash crops. The local aristocracy was not allowed to serve in the government. When France published the Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789, the Saint Domingue residents expected the new French government would convey the rights it proclaimed to them. However, the French restricted these rights to wealthy white plantation owners and free Black individuals and excluded the rest of the population. In 1791–1792, the enslaved people of Saint Domingue rose in protest.

Toussaint L'Ouverture (1743–1803), a formerly enslaved person, joined the rebellion in 1792 after the Night of Fire (Aug. 22, 1791), when more than 100,000 enslaved people set their plantations on fire and mounted an armed resistance. The death toll included 24,000 White and 100,000 enslaved people. In 1803, Napoleon sent 43,000 troops to regain control of Saint Domingue. They captured L'Ouverture, who was sent to die in a French prison, but Jean-Jacques Dessalines (1758–1806), the first ruler of independent Haiti, defeated the French forces and declared Haiti an independent nation in 1804.

France recognized Haiti, but Haiti faced challenges securing trading partners and diplomatic relations with other countries, such as the United States, which refused to ally itself with a country whose enslaved people had overthrown their oppressors. Edmund Burke declared the Haitian Revolution a dangerous precedent that threatened the institution of slavery.

In 1810, a Catholic priest, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753–1811) led the Mexican war for independence. Spain relinquished its control of Mexico with the Treaty of Córdoba in 1821. The new Mexican government restructured Mexican society and outlawed slavery. Independence movements in Guatemala, Haiti, Columbia, and Argentina followed. Mexico experienced 50 governments in 30 years. None of the leaders were as impactful or controversial as Antonio López de Santa Anna (1794–1876), who controlled several of these governments as president and military dictator. During this instability, Mexico's northern colony of Tejas (Texas) rebelled against Mexico's 1821 decision to abolish slavery and Santa Anna's moves to centralize government power and criminalize gun ownership. The Texans declared independence in 1836, leading to the Mexican-American War in 1845. After it defeated Mexico, the United States annexed Tejas and most of Mexico's territory north of the Rio Grande River.

Porfirio Diaz (1830–1915) seized political power in 1876 and created a dictatorship (the Porfiriato) from 1876 to 1911. During his 34-year dictatorship, Diaz created a centralized government and pursued an aggressive policy to build a modern capitalist and industrialized state with substantial investment from the United States and other foreign countries. The Mexican Constitution of 1857 lasted until the Revolution of 1910, with the onset of the Mexican Civil War (1910–1920). This revolution brought an end to the Porfiriato. 

The Revolution in South America was led by Simón Bolívar (1783–1830), a wealthy aristocrat. Bolívar dedicated his fortune to the independence movement. Bolívar became a temporary dictator in Venezuela, Peru, and president of the newly formed Gran Colombia. Gran Colombia was a short-lived republic in South America that existed from 1819 to 1831.

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4b. Describe how the ideas of the Enlightenment influenced revolution in Latin America

  • How did The Enlightenment inspire Latin American revolutionaries?
  • How did the ideals of rights and limited government influence the revolutions of Latin America?

The ideas of the Enlightenment influenced revolutions in Haiti, Mexico, and other parts of Latin America. For example, in Saint Domingue, the independence supporters had read the French Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789), which proclaimed universal human rights, limited democratic government, and the idea that government should be based on the people's will. Civil war erupted across the country when the French Revolutionary government only extended these rights to certain groups.

These Enlightenment ideals are evident in the writings of Father Hidalgo of Mexico, the Texas revolutionaries Simon Bolivar of South America, and Fidel Castro of Cuba.

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4c. Explain the role the United States played in the revolutions of Latin America

  • How did the American Revolution inspire the revolutions in Latin America? How did the interests of the United States cause it to switch its policies and perspective?
  • What was the U.S. role in the events and outcome of revolutions in Latin America?

The American Experiment inspired many Latin American revolutionaries to rebel against the European colonial powers. However, the United States used its Monroe Doctrine and Roosevelt Corollary to assert itself as a protector of the Western hemisphere. The Monroe Doctrine, introduced in 1823, prohibited European colonization of the Western Hemisphere and aimed to prevent European expansion in the Americas. The Roosevelt Corollary, introduced in 1904, extended this doctrine, allowing the US to intervene in Latin American countries to maintain stability and protect American interests, often through military force or economic coercion. The U.S. government warned European powers against interfering in its commercial and political interests. During the Spanish-American War of 1898, the United States said it supported the Cuban and Filipino independence movements. Still, it had its imperialistic ambitions when it stepped in to replace Spanish control of Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam.

President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) said the United States would speak softly and carry a big stick. The Roosevelt Corollary meant the United States would serve as a police force in the Americas and protect its interests as a world power with force. Roosevelt's "big stick" policy impacted several revolutions in Latin America.

In Panama, the U.S. government helped Panamanian insurgents gain independence from Gran Colombia, which opposed the U.S. plan to build a canal through the Isthmus of Panama. The Panama Canal would support the U.S. Navy and commercial shipping interests. The United States agreed to create an independent Panama (provided it supported the United States). This support solidified U.S. involvement in Latin American politics and divided the American continents into north and south.

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4d. Describe the role the United States played in the revolutions in the Philippines

  • Why did the United States refuse to grant the Philippines independence after the Spanish-American War?
  • How did the United States' actions in the Philippines lead to the Philippine-American War?

The United States refused to grant independence to the Philippines after the Spanish-American War in 1898 and used its newly acquired territory to expand its naval presence in Southeast Asia. The Filipino people believed the United States would honor their desire for independence in keeping with the ideals of the American Revolution. A Filipino independence movement later tried to expel the United States during the Philippine-American War (1899–1902). The United States maintained colonial control of the Philippines until Japan took control of the islands during World War II.

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4e. Discuss the role the United States played in the Cuban Revolution

  • What role did the United States play in the Cuban Revolution?

Unlike the Philippines and several other territories, the United States granted independence to Cuba. In 1959, leaders Fidel Castro (1926–2016) and Che Guevara (1928–1967) overthrew Cuba's capitalist system, which had become beholden to United States commercial interests, and replaced it with a communist system that remains today. Cuba has been governed as a one-party socialist state with a centrally planned economy. The events in Cuba served as a proxy war for the Cold War (1947–1989), where the United States and the Soviet Union (today's Russia) engaged in a constant struggle between capitalism and communism.

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4f. Explain the development of socialist ideas in Latin America and their effects on revolution

  • What were the primary causes of the Mexican Revolution?
  • Why were the Mexicans so receptive to the socialist ideas?
  • What rights did the Mexican Constitution of 1917 proclaim for Mexican citizens?

The Mexican Revolution occurred from 1910 to 1920. It marked the end of the porfiriato, the rule of Porfirio Diaz, the authoritarian Mexican president, from 1876 to 1911. In October 1910, Francisco Madero, an advocate for social justice and democracy, called on Mexicans to oppose the Diaz dictatorship. He was supported by Emiliano Zapata, who had inspired an agrarian movement (Zapatismo) in the state of Morelos when he called on the peasants to demand water rights and land reform.

Power and wealth were concentrated in the central government, foreign (usually American) investors, and members of the wealthier upper classes, often of Spanish heritage. A small but growing middle class objected to the concentration of wealth in the upper class and foreign investors. Mexican intellectuals aligned themselves with European-style liberalism. The peasants, villagers, and Mexican working class were often of mixed race (Mestizos) or members of the indigenous population (Zapotecs, Yaquis, and Maya). The Mexican industrial workers began to unionize, and the rural and urban poor also demanded equal opportunity.

In May 1911, Díaz was forced to resign and flee to France when the Federal Army suffered several military defeats by Madero's forces. In October 1911, Madero was elected president. However, Madero soon disavowed the support he had received from Zapata's forces and denounced the Zapatistas. Venustiano Carranza was elected president from 1917 to 1920 and oversaw the creation of the Mexican Constitution of 1917. This constitution recognized the rights of organized labor, established the basis for a free, mandatory, and secular education, and limited the power of the Catholic Church. Carranza was assassinated in 1920, and his opponent, Obregon, was elected president, marking the end of the Mexican Revolution.

Since the 1917 Constitution was the first constitution to discuss social rights, many historians view it as the first socialist constitution. It would influence future socialist revolutions and constitutions, including the Weimar Constitution of 1919 in Germany and the Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Constitution of 1918 in Russia. This socialist and Marxist revolutionary tradition was evident in 1910 Mexico and would resurface in Chile, Ecuador, and Cuba.

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Unit 4 Vocabulary

This vocabulary list includes terms you will need to know to successfully complete the final exam.

  • Antonio López de Santa Anna
  • Che Guevara
  • Cold War
  • Emiliano Zapata
  • Fidel Castro
  • Francisco Madero
  • Gran Colombia
  • Isthmus of Panama
  • Jean-Jacques Dessalines
  • Maya
  • mercantilism
  • Mestizos
  • Mexican Civil War
  • Mexican Constitution of 1857
  • Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
  • Monroe Doctrine
  • Panama Canal
  • Pancho Villa
  • Philippine American War
  • Porfiriato
  • Porfirio Diaz
  • Roosevelt Corollary
  • Saint Domingue
  • Simón Bolívar
  • Spanish-American War of 1898
  • Tejas
  • Theodore Roosevelt
  • Toussaint L'Ouverture
  • Treaty of Córdoba
  • Yaquis
  • Zapatismo
  • Zapotecs